Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 497 The Call from a Dream

After meeting Yoshioka in person, Chihiro ruled out the possibilities that "he might have the talent of a spiritual medium" or "he was unintentionally possessed"...

Chihiro, a genuine "spirit medium" and even a "spirit," actually serves to prove that things haven't veered off course into the supernatural.

However, this makes the matter of "reincarnation memories" even more mysterious.

Yoshioka Tsubasa does indeed appear to be an introverted and shy student. He is currently a second-year high school student. According to Hattori, Yoshioka was outstanding in kendo in junior high school, but after entering high school, he gradually faded into obscurity. This time, he came as a substitute member.

Therefore, at first, Shiraishi thought that it was because he was under too much pressure that he had delusions.

However, after actually meeting Yoshioka and asking him a few questions, Shiraishi felt that things were not quite as they seemed...

Shiraishi, who had made significant contributions to the field of psychology, also felt that Yoshioka did not seem to be playing a prank.

When Shiraishi kept pressing him for answers, his responses were not very fluent, often consisting of phrases like "can't remember" or "don't know," but this was consistent with the characteristics of an "encounter in a dream."

Out of curiosity, Shiraishi decided to give it a try himself—although he wouldn't usually handle cases personally, but…

Since it has been "reincarnated," people are bound to be curious.

Although Chihiro has certified it, it doesn't mean that it's "definitely not a reincarnation" or "definitely not possessed by a spirit medium."

In the latter respect, Chihiro and Mayoi are certainly professionals, but spiritual mediums do not understand or recognize reincarnation.

However, the fact that mediums do not acknowledge it does not mean that it does not exist. The principles of "mediums" have always been controversial in the supernatural world. As mentioned before, a considerable number of other supernatural factions believe that what "mediums" communicate with are not real souls, but rather a kind of memory projection.

Some schools of thought believe that the true soul is reincarnated, and they view "spirit" and "soul" separately.

After all, even science has many unsolved mysteries, and the supernatural community is even less likely to know everything, with many things being debated.

In contrast, Chihiro Ayasato's state is quite special—she is now a true "soul," unlike "spirit possession," as she immediately resided in Shiraishi's left arm after death, which makes her presence almost non-diminished.

……

During the lunch break, Shiraishi personally led Hattori and Yoshioka to the "Beika Department Store"—it was not appropriate to let others get involved in this matter.

Firstly, because this was a case in Beito-cho; secondly, because Shiraishi simply couldn't bring himself to say something like, "Go and see if the reincarnation is real or not!"
After arriving at Beika Department Store, Shiraishi drove directly to the scene of the crime in the underground parking lot...

“This is it! Yes, this is the place I dreamed about…” Yoshioka said with certainty.

Having already experienced it once, Yoshioka, although still panicked and sweating this time, did not faint like before.

Seeing his expression, Shiraishi was even less convinced that he was acting, and said, "Calm down. Whether it's a 'past life' or not, at least no one can hurt you here now."

Shiraishi first calmed him down...

Then, while taking out his phone, Shiraishi said, "Do you remember what 'you' looked like after being stabbed? If you can, act it out here."

“Um… there should be a white car here,” Yoshioka said, pointing to a parking space next to him.

Upon hearing this, Bai Shi's expression shifted slightly, and he nodded, saying, "Yes, I'll use my car instead."

As Bai Shi spoke, he parked his car there.

After coming to a stop, Yoshioka began to "act".

“Here… I was stabbed in the stomach first… and then…” Yoshioka said, clutching his stomach as if he was about to fall, but after frowning, he steadied himself and said, “I didn’t fall… and then… I was stabbed in the chest…”

As Yoshioka spoke, he clutched his chest, took two steps back, and collapsed beside the car. He first leaned against the car, then fell to the side, lying completely on the ground. He then reached out his left hand towards what seemed to be the direction the murderer had fled. Finally, his left hand drooped down, maintaining the posture of his right hand covering his fatal wound and his left hand outstretched.

At the same time, Shiraishi pointed his phone (tablet) at Yoshioka, looking at him and at the screen—on Shiraishi's screen, there were photos of the scene from that year!
Although it was a case in Beito-cho, since it was a murder case, especially an unsolved case, the main store naturally had a record of it. Before coming here, Shiraishi asked Iwata to help him find the crime scene record from that year.

The image of Sekita Shohei's body in the photo is exactly the same as that of Yoshioka Tsubasa lying here now!
Even on the white car door at the murder scene, there was indeed a bloody handprint left when someone sat down, just like when Yoshioka touched Shiraishi's car door when he sat down.

"This... it probably wouldn't have been reported in the news back then, right?" Hattori said, looking at Shiraishi's phone.

“Of course.” Shiraishi’s expression turned serious at this moment.

Even without considering that "Yoshioka's behavior doesn't seem like he's lying," it's difficult to explain it as a "prank" anymore, because the memory he's showing now goes beyond the scope of news reporting.

“Um…” Yoshioka then got up and looked at Shiraishi somewhat timidly.

"Don't worry, we will investigate this case thoroughly," Shiraishi said confidently.

However, Hattori, who was standing to the side, then emphasized, "This isn't the jurisdiction of the Beika Police Station, is it?"

“It’s not within the jurisdiction of the Beika Police Station… that doesn’t mean we can’t investigate.” Shiraishi’s words made Hattori even more puzzled. After a pause, Shiraishi said, “For example, if we find unidentified high school students harassing the victim’s family in Beika Town, then we could come to check if they are playing a prank… isn’t that reasonable?”

Hattori:……

Immediately, Shiraishi asked Yoshioka the most crucial question: "Yoshioka-kun, do you remember what the murderer looked like?"

Upon hearing this, Yoshioka looked deep in thought, but in the end he shook his head and said, "I don't remember..." Then his expression changed and he said, "Ah! A suit, it should be... a black suit."

The most crucial thing, Yoshioka no longer remembers.

As for his attire... a black suit is too ordinary!

"Were there any people wearing black suits among the suspects at the time?" Hattori asked immediately.

However, Shiraishi shook his head and said, "No, there was no room for suspicion at the time."

"Huh?" Hattori was taken aback, then asked, "I checked the news and it said that Mr. Sekida was murdered within five minutes of hanging up the phone with his wife, right?"

With such a precise time of death, there should at least be some room for doubt! "That's right, I looked at the case file. At 11:20 a.m., Mr. Guantian hung up the phone, and at 11:25 a.m., his body was discovered. The murder happened within those five minutes."

"However, no valuables were missing from the deceased's person, and he was wearing work clothes, ruling out the possibility of murder for money. As for revenge killing or crime of passion... we checked the people in the parking lot and found that no one knew the victim."

"Furthermore, the murder weapon was not at the scene, nor was it found during the body search. Therefore, we suspect that the murderer left the parking lot without being discovered in some way, and naturally, there are no suspects," Shiraishi explained at this point.

The reason this case remains unsolved is that the exact reason why the murderer left the underground parking lot is still a mystery.

The murder was discovered and reported within five minutes of it occurring. The scene was in a relatively enclosed environment like an underground parking garage, making it easy to cordon off. Yet, the murderer simply disappeared with the murder weapon!
Furthermore, after investigating Sekida Shohei, it was learned that he usually had an excellent reputation and was well-liked, had no enemies, and had no extramarital affairs.

He was at the scene of the crime as an air conditioner repairman, temporarily visiting Beika Department Store to fix the air conditioners; it wasn't a pre-arranged event...

Therefore, the police never found out why he was killed.

Just then, a man in his early thirties, who looked like a staff member, walked over and asked Shiraishi, "Chief Beika... um, may I ask what case you are investigating?"

Although they didn't know what they were doing, Shiraishi's identity was immediately recognizable—this wasn't Beika Town, but it was very close...

“That’s right, and you are?” Shiraishi asked in return.

“Oh, I’m Kazuya Shirakawa, the floor manager of the underground parking garage. May I ask…” Shirakawa said, glancing at the corner where Yoshioka was standing, “Are you all… going to investigate a case from seventeen years ago?”

"Hmm? You know about that case too?" Shiraishi was surprised to hear this—this person looked no older than him, and shouldn't have been that old seventeen years ago.

“Of course, and... the person who first discovered the case back then was my father,” Shirakawa said proactively.

"Your father?" Bai Shi was taken aback upon hearing this—what a coincidence? The son of the first person to discover the discovery is now a floor manager in the mall?
“Yes, my father was the floor manager here back then, and he’s the president of the mall now,” Shirakawa explained.

Shiraishi:……

Shiraishi then realized that the Shirakawa family were the owners of the shopping mall!

Is the floor manager position in this underground parking garage a family tradition passed down through a succession?
“My father is here right now, would you like to go and have a talk with him?” Shirakawa asked.

“That’s great.” Shiraishi nodded naturally. Seeing Shirakawa looking at Yoshioka and Hattori, Shiraishi explained simply, “Those two are cooperating with my investigation.”

It's not good to talk about reincarnation with other people, otherwise they'll just think, "You should see a doctor."

"I see. This way, please." Shirakawa said, leading Shiraishi, Hattori, and Yoshioka to the president's office.

The company president, Haruyoshi Shirakawa, was a short, stout middle-aged man who didn't seem very kind.

However, after meeting "Director Mikasa", he seemed quite kind.

Upon learning that it was his son Kazuya who had brought Chief Beika to learn about the case from seventeen years ago, Shirakawa Haruyoshi glared at him and told him to go to work, while he received the three of them, including Shiraishi, in his office.

"Seventeen years ago... Actually, I had already told the police about what I could remember at the time. I was in my office when I vaguely heard a man shouting something, so I went out to check the garage and found Mr. Sekita's body."

"When I went over and found that he was dead, I immediately called the police and sealed off the entrances and exits of the underground parking garage..."

Haruyoshi Shirakawa recounted what happened back then.

"What was someone shouting at the time?" Shiraishi pressed for an answer.

However, Shirakawa Haruyoshi shook his head and said, "Yes, I heard it... but I didn't hear exactly what they shouted, sorry."

Because the testimony wasn't heard clearly, it wasn't mentioned much in the case file.

"Uncle Shirakawa, do you still have any photos from back then?" Hattori suddenly asked.

"Huh? This... I do have it, let me look." Shirakawa glanced at the dark-skinned boy with a puzzled look, but since he came with "Chief Beika", he didn't ask any more questions and just assumed he was a detective who looked quite young.

Although this is not Beika Town, the "Beika Police Chief" is still well-known, and Shirakawa has no intention of complaining to Beika Police Station about being "harassed" by the police station outside.

Shirakawa actually found the old file in the filing cabinet in his office.

After all these years, there have only been four or five murders at Beika Department Store, not so many that they can't be recorded...

Some of the photos were kept on file, and Shiraishi and Hattori both looked at them following Shirakawa's explanation.

There was nothing special about it, and it wasn't as clear or obvious as the police photos.

Shiraishi knew why Hattori asked this question; he simply wanted to know what the "first discoverer" in front of him was wearing at the time!
His son, Kazuya Shirakawa, was wearing a suit, so both Shiraishi and Hattori thought that, given his status as the first discoverer, he was likely also wearing a work suit at the time.

but……

Soon the two saw that although Shirakawa Haruyoshi was wearing a suit at the time, it was similar to his current style, a green suit, completely different from the black suit that Yoshioka had mentioned.

At the same time, Hattori looked at Yoshioka again, wondering if he had remembered anything after seeing the photo. However, Yoshioka did not look at the photo at all. Instead, his lips were moving, as if he was talking to himself silently.

He suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! I remember now... it's 'the sun'!"

"The sun? What sun?" Hattori asked strangely—the underground parking garage, we won't see the sun, will we?

“Someone was calling for the sun! Indeed, someone kept calling ‘sun,’ ‘sun’…” Yoshioka recalled something when Shirakawa recounted what happened before the body was discovered.

"Was it 'the sun' that you shouted? Was it you who shouted it, or the murderer?" Hattori quickly pressed for an answer.

Shirakawa looked at the two young men strangely—judging by their age, Yoshioka couldn't possibly be one of those people who were there back then, and... what did he mean by "you shouted it"?
Upon hearing this, Yoshioka spoke several times, but only shook his head each time, clearly unsure himself...

(End of this chapter)